In amusing and instructing our toddlers, we have long relied on toys and picture books. The former readily concentrate attention for extended time spans and involve the use of the toddler's hands and mind, providing a measure of eye-hand coordination along with amusement. Picture books, while not offering much by way of enhancing eye-hand coordination, have evident benefit in visual object identification and provide early familiarity with simple words and the spelling thereof. Picture books have practical advantage over toys in entertaining and educating the toddler during travel and in other cramped space situations.
A composite toy and picture book is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,743 as comprising commonly-hinged front, back and intermediate panels. The panels are sculptured to exhibit a moving vehicle and the front and back panels fixedly support the wheels of the vehicle, exteriorly of the perimeter of the book.
While the '743 patent picture book is thus also a toy, it affords a nominal measure of eye-hand coordination. Thus, the toy vehicle is simply movable along a substrate as a unit. Its only mobile parts are the wheels and these simply rotate.